Reflections and parallels

As I sat down to enjoy my morning coffee, I began thinking, again, of what I’ve been thinking about all week. With each anti-secession post, I can’t help but reflect on my third great-grandfather, John Shuler (who, incidentally, was the same age, in 1861, as I am now… just a casual observation… no more) who, 150 years ago, made his rounds in Page County, with at least two others, speaking out against the folly of secession.

So, there I was, this morning, sitting and looking out my bedroom window at the sun cresting the hill just beyond my backyard. I looked out at the grass getting greener and my orchard beginning to bud, and forgot for a little while, about all the other issues that plague us in the daily headlines. It made me also think how similarly (or, really, more intensely) Shuler may have felt, this time, 150 years ago, watching the world (his world) go insane in the midst of the irony of he earth renewing itself.

More about Shuler, later today.

*The word “parallel” is used a bit loosely here, considering, not exact, but, at best, only remote comparability.

I wonder about J. D. Slusher the same way from time to time. Especially when I’m on Rt. 211 or 340 in page. He was just a kid without political savvy or instant information, unlike us. Yet he was dedicated to protect Daddy’s farm from “Big Blue” burning it down. A hero that was involved in every “Valley Campaign”?
On the other hand, being a realist, I know that we are hard pressed to know his, their, real motivations. For example: Were family dynamics bad? Did he and Dad not get along well, so he was looking for any excuse to leave? Did he feel that if he didn’t go fight he would be less of a man? Maybe his motivation was it impressed the girls, in the beginning and that was what he liked. Was he a braggart or truly dedicated to a cause, a mission, reason valid or not. Did he treat people and his animals well? We will never know these things. He went in at 17 years old. Was it simple teenage rebellion? We only have their records of where they were and what they did. I wish I knew more about GG Grandad. Yet, isn’t that that the mystery that drives us? Our thirst to know more? Some things we’ll never know, and maybe it’s good that we will never know. Said I am a realist. But, I prefer to think of him as a hero. Funny how someone 4 generations back can touch us in a strange way. These “KIDS” that were in mortal battle, sometimes daily. For me there seems to be a strange respect for him that I have for no other relative. Probably born out of envy because I could never have done what he did for four years on a horse being shot at and having to kill in retaliation or he shooting first then ducking. I’m quite sure that like me, you would have loved to have been a fly on a tree at Chancellorsville to witness it all. To have been at the stacking at Appomattox Court House when the Commanche’s rode out screaming. In the 1894 pic he’s on the back row with the flag on his shoulder. Makes me wonder things like, did he pick up the fla when Stonewall was shot? Or was he the one that accidentally shot Stonewall?? We’ll never know. Yep, I’m a romantic. I prefer to think of
Granddad as a hero. Thanks for all your good information, I do appreciate it.
Herb Slusher

[…] As I mentioned yesterday, after posting a few items focused on anti-secession rhetoric in Virginia (during this time of the year, 150 years ago) this past week, I began thinking again about an ancestor of mine who also spoke out against secession at this same time. […]